Bruins' 2014-15 schedule released, open with Flyers

The NHL on Sunday released its schedule for the 2014-15 season, a campaign that will begin for the Bruins with a home date against the Flyers on Oct. 8.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

The NHL on Sunday released its schedule for the 2014-15 season, a campaign that will begin for the Bruins with a home date against the Flyers on Oct. 8.

This is the second season of the NHL's realignment, which has a set schedule matrix, so the announcement was just a matter of putting fixtures to dates.

The Bruins will face the Canadiens for the first time since their playoff meeting Oct. 16 in Montreal, which unfortunately for Boston fans is the same night as a Patriots-Jets 'Thursday Night Football' game. However, they'll have a chance to catch the rivalry again quickly, as the Bruins and Habs meet three times in the first 22 games of Boston's season (Nov. 13 in Montreal, Nov. 22 in Boston).

Their fourth and final regular-season affair will be Feb. 8 in Boston, a Sunday night game.

The trip to Staples Center is the centerpiece for the first of two lengthy West Coast trips. From Dec. 1-6, the Bruins hit all three California spots as well as the Arizona Coyotes. From Feb. 13-22, they have a season-long five-game road trip that tours Western Canada and concludes with visits to Cup contenders St. Louis and Chicago.

The Bruins have 16 back-to-backs. Their busiest stretch is 15 games in 27 days in March.

In the Atlantic Division, the Bruins will get five games each against Detroit (two home games) and Ottawa (three home games), so that's five more meetings of the Smith brothers after their playoff reunion. The other division foes get four whacks at the Bruins.

As per the schedule matrix, there are three interdivisional games against each Metropolitan team. The Bruins get the Devils, Islanders, Rangers and Flyers twice at home, while the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Penguins and Capitals will see Causeway Street just once.

One noticeable change from the past is the fewer matinees at the Garden. Traditionally, the Bruins have played their Saturday games after New Year's at 1 p.m. Last year the Bruins played 11 afternoon home games, including seven after Jan. 1, but have just six this season, three after New Year's.

Also, the annual Black Friday game, a staple in the early afternoon for years, will be played at 7 p.m. this season against the Jets.

This may partly be due to the new Canadian television contract with Rogers Sportsnet, which can support multiple primetime games on Saturday nights. The Bruins will appear on some form of Rogers' Saturday night programming 16 times, including seven times on the new-age 'Hockey Night in Canada.'

Rogers is also implementing a Sunday night broadcast, which may explain why the Bruins have three Sunday night home games, a night where Garden ice has usually been quiet.

The Rogers deal will not affect NESN, which will air all Bruins games not on NBC or are exclusive to NBCSN. The NBC games were not released Sunday.